


One Week

by leighwrites



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Adventure tri.
Genre: Aged Up, F/M, M/M, fluffy-fluffs, vacationing boys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-05-30 08:38:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15093149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leighwrites/pseuds/leighwrites
Summary: All it took was seven days in the middle of nowhere for Taichi and Koushirou to realise how they felt; with a push from their friends of course.





	1. Day One

 

Travelling three hours into the middle of nowhere with one Taichi Yagami was not as bad as his friends had expected it to be. Sure, he was the kind of person who lounged back in the passenger seat with his feet propped up on the dashboard despite the protests of the driver (Koushirou), but otherwise he was fairly pleasant.

Yamato was sitting behind them, squeezed in between Takeru and Jou, the latter of which had his nose buried into a book. Yamato suspected that he was trying to get in some last minute studying before Taichi and Daisuke forced him into vacation mode. Taichi had already threatened to throw any textbooks he caught Jou with after they stepped into the cabin into the thickest and most stinger filled bush he could.

Jou didn’t doubt this for a second.

Behind the row of seats Yamato was sitting on, Ken was wedged between Daisuke and Iori, his laptop perched on his legs as he tried to get as much of his paper done as possible. He didn’t want to run the risk of Taichi tossing his laptop into the woods somewhere; forcing him to wade through thick bushes and closely positioned trees to try and find it.

Once in a while, Daisuke would look at the laptop screen and scrunch his nose in a disapproving manner before he would return to looking out the window at the passing scenery; not that there was really much of it to look at while they were still on the highway.

Everyone was so into doing their own thing that Yamato wondered if anyone (Taichi and Koushirou included) even noticed the little things that he did throughout the journey.

First of all, Taichi would dig into the space between his legs for the cooler to grab one of the water bottles, uncapping it and taking a swig before holding the bottle to Koushirou. Koushirou would take the bottle; one hand firmly on the wheel where his fingers were tapping to the beat of whatever current song was playing, take a swig of the water, and then hand the bottle back to Taichi.

And considering Koushirou was not the kind of person to drink from the same bottle as another person, Yamato wasn’t sure if he didn’t realise that Taichi was drinking it from it first (he never took his eyes from the road like a good driver), or if he just didn’t care at this point because asking Taichi for a different bottle was _such_ a big problem.

And did the redhead even notice he was smiling after?

On top of that, if Koushirou’s sunglasses started to slip down his nose because it was _so fucking hot to the point they had as many windows open as they could_ , Taichi would reach over and carefully adjust them back on his face.

Did they even realise the shit they did?

“I hate this song.” Taichi reached for the CD player, but Koushirou moved a hand from the wheel to smack his hand away. “Ow - what was  _that_ for?”

“You only said that because it’s one of Yamato’s songs, and you don’t have a romantic bone in your body.” Koushirou stated calmly, moving his hand back to the steering wheel.

“I do too!” Taichi snapped.

“You really  _don’t_.” Yamato leaned back in his seat, glancing to the side to see that Takeru was immersed in some book he’d put onto his e-reader. “What are you reading?”

Takeru slowly looked up from the e-reader to Yamato. “Sea of Trees.”

“Really Takeru? You’re reading a book about a suicide forest when you’re about to spend _seven whole days_ in a forest? Are you  _trying_ to make yourself paranoid?”

“Who do you think I am? Daisuke?”

“Oi!” Daisuke protested from behind them, not even bothering to look up from the screen of his 3DS.

Taichi snorted, uncapping his water bottle and taking a quick sip before once again holding it out to Koushirou. Koushirou carefully moved one hand from the wheel to take the bottle, bringing it to his mouth. “How long until we get there anyway?”

Koushirou swigged from the bottle before holding it back out to Taichi, his eyes drifting briefly to the navigational system that was built into the car. “About an hour.”

Taichi nodded, swigging from the bottle again before capping it and dropping it back into the cooler. He propped his feet back up onto the dashboard, ignoring the look that Koushirou shot at him, leaning back in his chair and tucking his hands behind his head, the sunlight reflecting off the dark lenses of his glasses.

“So, why a forest anyway? It doesn’t seem like much of a vacation spot to me.”

Yamato snorted. “It’s secluded, in the middle of nowhere. It’s called _relaxing_ , maybe you should try it sometime since you never _stop moving_.”

Taichi casually raised his hand without facing Yamato, extending his middle finger. Koushirou rolled his eyes. “ _That’s_ mature.”

“Well, we all knew Taichi wasn’t the matureist of people.” Jou said, turning a page in his textbook. “It baffles me that _you_ of all people would think otherwise, Koushirou.”

“Yeah, silly me.” Koushirou said at the same time that Taichi retorted with “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“I think you know what the means, Tai.” Koushirou retorted smoothly.

“ _Shut up, Izzy._ ” Taichi snapped. “I wasn’t asking  _you_.”

“You never specified a recipient to your question.”

“It was  _heavily_ implied I was talking to Jou!”

 “It really wasn’t.”

 Yamato arched a brow, exchanging a look with Takeru who started laughing. “You guys sound like a married couple.”

 “Do not.” Taichi and Koushirou snapped in unison.

 “Oh man, they even have the sync down, ‘mato.”

There was a laugh from Yamato as he reached over, grabbing the front of Takeru’s cap (which vaguely reminded him of something that a pokemon trainer would wear), before yanking it down in front of his face. “Don’t aggravate them, T.K. That’s _my_ job.”

An hour later they had reached their destination and Koushirou had checked them in and retrieved their key (cabin 69 which prompted some rather unclean jokes from Taichi which resulted in Koushirou smacking him in the arm), before Koushirou drove up their cabin and pulled into the small parking space provided for them.

Jou finally shoved his textbook back into his backpack before climbing out of the car, and their group set to work on carrying their things into the cabin, starting with the coolers and bags of food; Yamato already claiming the kitchen as _his_ space while ordering them where to put the different types of food.

“ _Obviously_ the fucking beer goes in the fridge, Mat, I’m not fucking _stupid_.” Taichi snapped, shoving one of the six packs into the fridge with more aggression than necessary.

“Sometimes I wonder...” Yamato mused, shoving a bag of chips into a nearby cupboard.

“The hell is  _that_ supposed to mean?” Taichi asked, grabbing another six pack and shoving it with the other.

“It doesn’t matter - _fuck_ Tai how much beer did you bring?”

Taichi grabbed a third six pack and pushed it onto the shelf. “Enough to get us through the week.”

“Us?” Jou repeated. “Absolutely not, Taichi. I’m not -”

“Oh, yes you are. Vacation mode, remember?”

“People can vacation just fine without getting inebriated, Tai.” Koushirou pointed out on his way back out through the door.

“There’s no fun in that!” Taichi called.

With the food packed, the group headed back to the car where Koushirou and Ken were unloading their personal bags from the trunk. Ken handed a green dufflebag to Daisuke who gave it a once over before he grimaced.

“That’s not mine.” He said, thrusting the dufflebag into Takeru’s arms roughly. “Mine’s the orange one.”

Ken grabbed the bag in question and handed it over before shouldering his own and grabbing the tan one that had been tucked behind it which Yamato wordlessly took from him and tossed to Taichi. Taichi caught the bag in his arms and stumbled as Jou took his own bag from Koushirou, teetering dangerously close to almost falling over. Koushirou rolled his eyes, shouldering his own bag while handing Iori his own while Ken shut the trunk with a thud.

“Try not to hurt yourself, Tai. Jou’s emergency medical kit can only stretch so far.”

Taichi stuck his tongue out at Koushirou, shouldering his bag and following the others inside. They’d barely reached the first bedroom across from the bathroom before Daisuke had thrown his dufflebag inside where it met one of the beds with a thump.

“Mine.” He said, strolling into the room. “Ken, get your ass in here, we’re rooming.”

“But -” Ken was cut off as Daisuke returned and grabbed him by the arm, steering him into the room so they could unpack.

“Mine.” Yamato said, heading into the next room before anyone could say anything, putting himself next to the bathroom. “And Takeru’s.” He added before Taichi could even suggest rooming with him for the week.

Being stuck in a forest with him for a week was enough without the added rooming.

“This is Iori and I,” Jou said, pointing to the room across from Yamato’s. “Sorry, Koushirou, but I can’t let poor Iori room with Taichi. He’ll corrupt him.”

Koushirou heaved a sigh. “That’s fair.”

Taichi glared. That left just one room at the end of the hallway; its door directly facing them. Koushirou grabbed the handle and pushed it open, staring at the room. It looked bigger than the others, which was nice, and it even had its own bathroom. The only problem was -

“Are you fucking _kidding_ me?” Taichi asked, looking at the room over Koushirou’s head. “A double bed?”

Koushirou pinched at the bridge of his nose before heading into the room and dropping his bag next to the bed. “We’ll make it work.”

“How the _fuck_ are we supposed to make this work?” Taichi asked, kicking the door shut behind them and throwing his bag over the bed where it hit the floor on the other side. “It’s a _double bed_ , Izzy.”

“We’ll build a wall in the middle,” Koushirou stated as Taichi flopped back onto the bed with his arms spread out either side of him. “It’s not like we haven’t slept in close proximity to each other before, Taichi. We’ve literally shared a tent while camping, and I woke up with your hand on my face and your leg thrown over me. We can make it work. We’ll just treat it like that.”

After their rooms were claimed and bags were tossed onto beds under the guise of unpacking them later, the group found themselves heading back to the living room to watch a movie on their prepaid entertainment package. Taichi dropped into the remaining seat, shoving himself between Yamato and the arm of the sofa.

“You should let Kou’ sit there.” Yamato said, idly flipping through the list of movies. “He did drive all the way up here. You can’t just shove him on the floor.”

“That’s okay.” Taichi scooted over a little, shoving Yamato with one of his arms. “Izzy’s small, you all just gotta make some room.”

Takeru scooted over, not so discreetly shoving Daisuke across the space he’d made between himself and Ken (which he maintained could fit at least half a person), dragging Yamato with him to make room for Koushirou to join them.

Taichi grabbed Koushirou’s arm and yanked him into the space that was now between himself and Yamato, patting at the top of his head lightly. “See? Everyone is on the sofa now, and I prefer sitting next to you over ‘Mato anyway.”

“I’d be insulted, but I don’t exactly like sitting by you either.” Yamato said, selecting a random movie from the list and clicking play. “There’s a reason I rushed into _not_ sharing a room with you.”

Taichi stuck his tongue out at Yamato before turning his attention to the movie, relaxing on the sofa with one arm slung around Koushirou’s shoulders and the other resting on the arm of the sofa. Yamato rolled his eyes, leaning back and tucking his hands behind his head.

They were halfway through their second movie when Yamato checked on them (mostly for Koushirou’s sake since he was wedged between them), only to find that Koushirou had fallen to sleep at some point, his head resting against Taichi’s collarbone. Taichi himself didn’t seem too bothered that he’d been turned into a pillow; his arm draped more over the redhead so that the back of his neck was now cradled against the inside of Taichi’s elbow.

And when their second movie came to an end, Taichi waited until everyone had already retired to their rooms (Yamato excluded while he mothered around cleaning everything up) before he effortlessly lifted Koushirou into his arms.

“You sure you got him?” Yamato asked warily. “You could just… wake him up.”

“I’m not gonna wake him up. I got this.” Taichi hissed over his shoulder; already halfway down the hall. “You just do your job for the night, and I’ll do mine.”

“But that’s not -” Yamato was cut off as Taichi shut the door to his shared room with his foot. “ _God fucking damn it._ ”

He kicked the coffee table in frustration.


	2. Day Two

**** Kouhsirou was already awake and gone from the room by the time Taichi had woken up the next morning. According to his phone it was only nine, his nose wrinkling in distaste as the numbers sank into his brain. Who the hell woke up before nine in the morning anyway?

Oh, right. 

Koushirou apparently.

Dragging himself out of the bed, Taichi yanked on a pair of shorts, wondering briefly just  _ where the hell his t-shirt was  _ before digging out a tank top from his dufflebag and yanking it over his head as he made his way out of the room. Takeru and Ken were already awake, lounging on the sofa and watching one of the movies on the in-cabin cinema. 

Ken was tentatively sipping at a mug of coffee, still somewhat straight postured despite the fact he was lounging while Takeru had a can of soda held laxly in one hand, his feet propped up on the wooden coffee table just in front of the sofa; completely making himself at home. At least  _ someone  _ was.

He located Yamato outside on the deck, completely relaxed at the table in a sleeveless shirt and shorts; sunglasses perched on his face and guitar in his lap as he strummed idly. He was sitting directly across from Koushirou who had taken up a chair in the shade and was sipping from a water bottle as he listened to Yamato’s surprisingly soothing strums and -

Was that his shirt? 

Why the hell did Koushirou look so good in that baggy green shirt that almost buried him?

Yamato stopped strumming to lean forward and grab his pen from the table, writing something down on the sheet of paper pinned under his shoe. Dropping the pen, he looked up, spotted Taichi, and gave him a nod. “I thought you’d sleep until midday or something.”

Taichi yawned, dropping into the chair between Yamato and Koushirou, propping his feet up onto the table lazily. “You thought wrong then, didn’t you? Should I ask about the shirt?”

“I didn’t realize I’d grabbed the wrong one until I was already sitting down, and I didn’t want to wake you up going back in to change.” Koushirou sipped at his water again before holding the bottle out to Taichi.. “I didn’t think you’d wake up thirty minutes after me.”

Yamato snorted, idly strumming the guitar again. “See, it’s not just me who thinks that. You literally built up a reputation by being so lazy that we just expect it now.”

Taichi paused in the middle of raising the bottle to his mouth, his eyes narrowing almost dangerously at Yamato. “How about you shut up before I toss you over that fence?”

Yamato stopped his strumming again, his brow arching. “Wow, someone’s aggressive. Pace yourself, Tai, you have all day to be a pain in the ass.”

Taichi extended his middle finger towards Yamato, an all too common occurrence since the start of this vacation, idly sipping from the bottle before handing it back to Koushirou. Yamato arched a brow when Koushirou capped it without bothering to wipe it off first.

What the hell happened to the Koushirou who hated to share from bottles?

Taichi suddenly threw his legs to one side, sitting upright in his chair. “Okay, put your girlfriend back in your room, Yamato. We’re going on an adventure!”

Yamato plucked at one of the strings harder than he’d intended to. “Excuse you?”

“I didn’t stutter. Takeru, come take this guitar away from your brother so I can drag him into the woods and murder him!”

It took five seconds for Takeru to appear in the doorway. “Can you maybe not murder him? Mom might kill me.”

“If anyone is getting murdered, it’s Tai.” Yamato deadpanned, handing the guitar to Takeru who took it carefully, reaching over for the sheet music Yamato had been doodling on.

“Right, let’s go!” Taichi said, jumping to his feet and clapping his hands. “You too, Izzy!”

Koushirou groaned, knowing that there was absolutely no getting out of this. “At least let me change my shirt before we go.”

“No time.” Taichi grabbed Koushirou by the wrist and pulled him from the chair, reaching out for the gate to the decking with his other hand. “See you guys when we get back! We’re gonna find the best routes to the store... cafe… thing.”

“It’s like having a labrador.” Yamato grumbled, steadying Koushirou as Taichi pulled him through the gate and down the dip between the deck and the forest floor. “Did you remember to bring a leash, Kou’?”

Twenty minutes later, they were following a downhill rocky trail that weaved through the forest. Yamato was trailing along behind Koushirou and Taichi with his hands shoved in his pockets. At least when they made it to the only non-cabin building in the whole park he’d be able to call Sora. It made dealing with Taichi bearable.

“All I’m saying is we could be lost.” Taichi tucked his hands behind his head, looking up at the overhead sky; or what he could see between the trees at least. “Everything looks the same.”

“Of course everything looks the same, Tai.” Koushirou looked off to the left, spotting a couple of cabins between the trees as they passed a sign reading CABINS 30-50. “We’re in a forest, what did you expect?”

Yamato pulled his phone from his pocket, checking to see if he’d managed to get any signal yet. “We’re not lost. We just follow this nicely marked path until we find the reception sign.”

It was another few yards before Yamato had signal on his phone and he instantly dialled Sora’s number. Taichi and Koushirou had pulled a little ahead; Taichi still insisting they were lost while Koushirou insisted that they were fine and that he knew exactly where they were going.

Ten minutes later they were standing in the field where the main building was and Yamato shot a quick “we told you so” at Taichi before he wandered off to find them a table nearby and continue his call with Sora in peace.

“Go take a seat. I’ll get you a drink.” Taichi said, nodding towards the table where Yamato was sitting.

“But we already have -” Koushirou never got to finish as the door shut behind Taichi, leaving Koushirou outside with the bottle of water in his hand.

By the time Taichi returned with four milkshakes, Yamato had finished his call to Sora and was now holding a conversation with Koushirou. He placed the glasses carefully onto the table, sliding two identicals across to Yamato and Koushirou.

“Why the hell did you get  _ four _ ?” Yamato asked.

“Because I like to be creative.” Taichi said, grabbing the straw in the glass of chocolate milkshake before drinking half of it, grabbing the strawberry one and pouring some into his half finished glass.

“What are you -” Yamato scrunched his nose as Taichi began to stir them together in the glass, turning his drink an almost bloodied red colour. “That’s fucking  _ gross _ .”

“Just because  _ you’re  _ a basic bitch, doesn’t mean we all are.”

Koushirou grimaced. “I don’t know how you can drink that without vomiting.”

“Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.” Taichi said, sliding the glass across the table towards Koushirou who gave him a sceptical look. “I mean it, Izzy. Try it and then if you still think it’s gross, your opinion is valid because you’ve actually tried it.”

Koushirou took the glass, a wary look on his face as he took the straw with the other hand and carefully took a sip. He placed the glass back onto the table, sliding it back over to Taichi. “Okay, it’s… not  _ disgusting, _ but it’s not good either.” He didn’t miss the disgusted look Yamato shot at him. “What? It’s not.”

Yamato scrunched his nose. “That’s not - whatever.” How did the  _ genius  _ of the group not realise he’d just shoved the same straw into his mouth that Taichi had been drinking from?

Then again they didn’t seem to notice anything they’d done since this damn trip had started, and now that Yamato was painfully aware of this stuff, he realised just how they’d been  _ before  _ the trip. Taichi could easily drag Koushirou out of his comfort zone and get him to try new things, and Koushirou was the only person who could get Taichi to focus on anything that wasn’t soccer or a video game.

Taichi actually tried better in his college classes (on top of actually attending a college). Koushirou actually let Taichi touch him, whether it was a hug, a playful punch on the arm, his arm thrown around his shoulders, or even ruffling his hair.

And now that Yamato was fully aware that these things had been happening, it was driving him crazy. How could two people, one of which was a genius, not realise that everything they’d been doing since middle school was so damn  _ couple-like _ ?

Yamato sipped at his milkshake, shooting Koushirou a quick glance. “I can’t believe you drank that.”

“Like I said, it’s not disgusting but it’s not good.”

“Excuse you, I have  _ fantastic  _ taste.” Taichi defended, drinking his ‘ungodly’ concoction again.

“I wonder sometimes...” Yamato muttered, stirring his straw in his drink. “You’re the same person who thought that peanut butter and jelly made for a good ice cream, and how did that work out for you again?”

“I vomited.”

“Exactly.”

“Yeah, Hikari wasn’t too happy about that.”

“Please do  _ not  _ tell me you vomited on Hikari.”

“What? No! Just her plushies!”

Koushirou looked up from his drink, brow arched. “I don’t think that’s much better, Tai.”

“I mean, better than on her right?” Taichi defended. “Fuck, why is it so bright at ten in the fucking morning?”

“It’s called daytime, genius.” Yamato stated, calmly sipping at his drink. “Specifically, morning.”

Whatever retort Taichi was about to shoot was halted by Koushirou removing his sunglasses from his head and holding them out Taichi. “Just don’t break them.”

“And this is why I like Izzy more than I do you.” Taichi shot, taking the glasses and sliding them onto his face.

“Oh no, whatever will I do?” Yamato asked.  _ Fuck, why are you two so fucking stupid? _

“Die, probably.” Taichi leaned back on his chair, his head angled towards Yamato. “We could give you a forest burial at least.”

“That’s not a thing.”

“It so  _ is  _ a thing. Right, Izzy?”

Koushirou heaved a sigh. “I do not want to be in the middle of this.”

“See, he agrees!”

“He wasn’t agreeing with you, idiot.” Yamato pushed the now empty glass away from himself. “Not getting involved does not automatically mean he’s on your side.”

“It absolutely does.”

“I don’t think you know how an agreement works. That might bode badly for you in the future… especially where Kou’ is concerned.”

“What do you mean ‘in the future’?” Taichi snapped.

Koushirou’s head snapped in Yamato’s direction. “What do you mean ‘ _ especially where Kou’ is concerned’? _ ”

“Idiots. The pair of you.” Yamato muttered, shaking his head.

Koushirou arched a brow at him. “Excuse you?”

“It’s gonna hit you two like a big, one hundred foot tall Kuwagamon one day.”

“I don’t know if I should feel insulted or not.” Taichi tipped more of the strawberry milkshake into his glass and stirred it. “I don’t think this is a scenario where I can do both.”

“No, it’s really not, so just pick one.”

Taichi lifted the sunglasses just enough so that Yamato could see him narrowing his eyes. “You know… considering its you…I choose to be insulted… and also offended.”

Yamato’s own eyes narrowed back at him in response, a lazy smirk coming to his face. “You picked wisely then.”

“I fucking hate you sometimes.”

Koushirou sighed, opting to remain out of their argument while focusing on drinking his milkshake, and once they were done, the three of them stood and made their way back to the cabin; making sure to follow the same path they’d taken to get to the main building.

“At least forests here in the real world are easier to navigate.” Taichi joked, nudging Koushirou with his elbow. 

“There was absolutely nothing wrong with the ones in the digital world. You’re just bad at navigation.” Koushirou pointed out.

Taichi opened his mouth to retort, but he was cut off by the sound of giggling. A group of girls rounded the thicket of trees, deep in conversation about a boy they knew while simultaneously teasing one of their friends who, from what Koushirou could make out, had a crush on their topic of conversation. At least  _ his  _ friends didn’t relentlessly tease a person when they were clearly uncomfortable.

One of the girls looked over, giving Taichi a once over before her eyes landed on Koushirou, her stare making him  _ extremely  _ uncomfortable. He inched a little closer to Taichi (his best friend and thus blanket of comfort), who automatically raised his arm and slung it around his shoulders, drawing the redhead into his side.

Yamato groaned. How did they  _ not  _ see what they were doing when even the girl who had been looking at Koushirou looked away suddenly as though looking at him would offend Taichi on some personal level?

Following the sloped gravelly path through the trees, they broke out onto the rocky roadway to see a car parked in front of the cabin across from their own; doors thrown open so the group of young adults (no older than themselves if Yamato had to guess judging by one of the boys) could unpack their things.

The boy had a pair of bulky headphones on, singing impressively along with some Italian song while he pulled a cooler from the trunk of the minivan. A girl stepped out of the cabin and jogged up the steps onto the roadway, a single brow arching at her friend, and though he couldn’t see her eyes under the green lenses of her sunglasses, Yamato suspected they held the same look he gave Taichi on a daily basis.

“Sorry about him.” The girl said, noticing the three boys who had stopped not to far away from the minivan. “I swear he quiets down once he gets it out of his system. He’s like a puppy.”

“Yeah we have a couple of those too.” Yamato said, indicating with his head that Taichi was one of them.

The girl grinned, and as the boy’s singing got louder, she turned sharply and smacked him upside the head. The boy jerked and raised a hand as he turned to her, pulling the headphones around his neck.

“What the  _ fuck, _ Haruhi?”

“You were getting too loud.” The girl now identified as Haruhi deadpanned. “Fuck, if I knew you were gonna be this loud, I would have left you back in the city.”

“Ritoma’s always loud, why are you so surprised?” A second boy had joined them, leaning into the car briefly to grab a bag which he slung over his shoulder.

“You literally did not tell me that he would get  _ louder _ , Satoshi. You said he was only ‘mildly’ annoying. I sat in a car with him for five hours, enduring his singing, most of which  _ I don’t understand because it’s in a foreign language. _ ”

“Did I not mention the singing?”

Haruhi turned and punched him in the shoulder.

“It sounds like  _ you’re  _ the one who might need to get away, Haruhi.” Yamato said, already walking off with Taichi and Koushirou. “Cabin sixty-nine.”

Ritoma snorted and opened his mouth to speak, only to be cut off by a sharp elbow to his stomach from Haruhi. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

Yamato shook his head with a slight chuckle. Maybe the residents of cabin sixty-eight wouldn’t be so bad.


	3. Day Three

“So why exactly did you feel the need to drag me out of bed and then all the way down here?” Taichi asked, scowling at the blonde sitting across from him as he pushed his sunglasses higher up his nose. 

They were sitting outside of the main building as they had done the day before when Koushirou had been with them, styrofoam cups filled with coffee in front of them. There were a few people standing nearby waiting to do the morning hikes that the park rangers offered, and the odd couple walking a dog by the building, but other than that there weren’t really that many people up and about yet.

Not that Taichi blamed them since it was  _ eight in the goddamn morning. _

Yamato grabbed his cup and raised it to his mouth to take a long sip. “Because,” he began setting his cup back down onto the table as the hiking group began to disperse around them, “I need to bring something to your attention that you’re  _ failing  _ to notice.”

Taichi arched a brow. “Like what?”

“Koushirou.”

“Izzy? What about him?”

Yamato gave him a pointed stare. “People are starting to see just how close you two are all the time.”

“So?” Taichi asked, taking a quick sip off his coffee. “Izzy and I have always been close. What’s the issue?”

“Wow you really  _ don’t  _ see it, do you?”

“The hell am I supposed to be seeing exactly?”

“You’re  _ too  _ close. The touching, the sharing drinks, the way you  _ look  _ at him. You two act like a damn couple all the time!”

Taichi stared, lowering his cup back to the table. “We’re  _ just  _ friends, ‘mato.”

“See, that’s the thing. I don’t think you are.” Yamato drummed his fingers against his cup irritably. “It’s like the two of you merged into some kind of relationship without even realising it, but everyone else is starting to notice! Even  _ Daisuke  _ asked me if you two were a thing last night.  _ Daisuke _ . Just think about that.”

“We’re  _ just  _ friends.” Weren’t they? “He’s not into guys.”

“ _ Isn’t  _ he?” Yamato asked, quirking a brow. “Because he sure doesn’t put up much of a fight when you’re shoving affection onto him.”

Koushirou was  _ definitely  _ straight.  _ Wasn’t he?  _ It wasn’t like he’d shown interest in  _ anyone  _ now that Taichi thought about it. He just sat at his computer typing away doing god only knew what. Shaking his head, Taichi sipped at his coffee, wincing at the sound of a loud bark from somewhere behind the building. 

He definitely wasn’t awake enough for this.

“He’s straight. So am I.”

_ Aren’t I? _

Taichi had never really stopped to think about it before. It had never been an issue. He’d just  _ assumed  _ he was straight because he’d once had an interest in Sora but he’d never really shown interest in anyone else after she’d turned him down.

A girl named Mariko had asked him out once in high school after her fellow cheerleader friends had pushed her into it, but he’d politely turned her down. Mariko was nice enough, but he just didn’t feel anything for her beyond their friendship.

He’d always assumed that it was because she  _ wasn’t  _ Sora, but now that he was really thinking about it, what  _ had _ attracted him to Sora?

Yamato was watching him with a raised brow and Taichi groaned, grabbing his cup and standing. “Whatever man. I’m heading back to the cabin with or without you..”

Yamato rolled his eyes with an amused smirk, grabbing his own cup and standing. “Alright gogglehead we’ll do it your way.” Taichi could have sworn he heard him mutter  _ oblivious idiot _ under his breath.

And after his conversation with Yamato, Taichi was starting to notice little things he hadn’t before. He was completely aware of the way Koushirou would tense whenever he threw an arm around his shoulders and try to put space between them; face flushed from the sudden closeness.

And it was like a puzzle was slowly clicking into place.

“Hey ‘mato, give me one those.” Taichi indicated to the box of cigarettes in front of Yamato who already had one hanging from his mouth while he idly strummed away at his guitar; determined to finish his song even if it was cutting into his vacation time. 

“Just get one yourself and stop being so lazy.” Yamato grumbled, pausing in his strum to take the cigarette from his mouth and knock the ash from the end.

Taichi leaned over, grabbed the box, and extracted a cigarette; popping it into his mouth and lighting it. “Why did you have to open your fucking mouth?”

Yamato snorted and returned to his strumming. “I was answering your  _ demand  _ for a cigarette. You could be a little more grateful.”

“Not that, asshole.” Taichi snapped, a little louder than he intended. “About what we talked about this morning.”

Yamato looked up at him, a single brow arching. “Well, what do you want me to do Tai? Go back in time and stop myself saying it? It needed to be said. How you didn’t notice all this time that he likes you is -”

“Keep it fucking down.” Taichi hissed, pointing in Yamato’s direction with the cigarette trapped between his fingers. “He might hear us and the last thing you want is for him to think you outed him.”

“I did… technically… shit. That’s exactly what I did. In the worst way possible because he hasn’t  _ told  _ anyone. Not even me. I just…  _ noticed. _ ”

“Yeah, jackass, and then you told me and now  _ I’m  _ noticing.”

“So what’s the problem? He’s still  _ Izzy  _ right? He’s still our friend.”

Taichi furrowed his brow, bringing the cigarette to his mouth. “Well, yeah, of course he is. He’ll always be Izzy no matter what.”

“Then what has you so stressed you had to come and smoke  _ my  _ cigarettes?”

Taichi groaned, leaning back in his seat in what Yamato considered to be a ‘dangerous’ manner. “I think I might not be as straight as I originally thought.”

“So… you like him?”

“I… I don’t know.” Taichi threw his arms up with a frustrated groan. “Look, the only other person I ever liked was Sora. I don’t… really understand this  _ liking someone  _ thing. How do I even know if I like him?”

Yamato reached forward, stabbing his cigarette into the ashtray. “You just  _ know  _ Tai. Look, it’s okay not to understand right now or even know what you feel. This is literally new to you, but I think… no… I’m pretty sure you  _ do _ , and you need to hurry up and realise that or think about if you do because if anyone starts asking me if you two are fucking or something then this guitar is going to be the blunt object of my fucking murder trial. That Ritoma kid already asked me.  _ That’s  _ how damn close you two are acting.”

“There’s one tiny problem with your little plan.” Taichi pointed out taking a long drag of the cigarette. “He hasn’t  _ told us  _ what he is.”

“And that bothers you.”

“A little. I mean… we’re best friends, right? And he didn’t tell me. Should I be bothered by that?”

“This isn’t something you can just tell someone. He’ll tell you when he’s ready. Or… if you figure out who the hell you’re attracted to and tell him… it might… ease his own anxiety.”

“You’re shit at this.”

“I’m not the kind of person who sugar coats. If you want that you can hike down to the main building and go call Sora.”

“I don’t need those mom speeches, thanks.” Taichi grumbled, stabbing out his cigarette. “Shit, what am I gonna do?”

“ _ Talk.to.him. _ ” Yamato said, pronouncing each word slowly. “You guys literally share a room. Talk to him and let me do my damn work.”

“Shit you’re cranky tonight.”

Later that night, Taichi flopped down heavily onto the bed he shared with Koushirou, startling the redhead who had entranced with something on his laptop. Koushirou’s eyes drifted from the screen to Taichi who had already made himself comfortable at the edge of the bed; hands tucked under his head.

“You’ve been smoking.” Koushirou pointed out, nose scrunching ever so slightly in what Taichi could only think of as  _ an adorable manner,  _ his eyes returning to his screen as he started to type again. “What’s bothering you?”

Taichi opened his mouth to speak, closing it quickly when the realisation hit him that he’d never actually  _ told  _ Koushirou he only ever smoked when something was bothering him. It wasn’t like he kept cigarettes on him or around the apartment, always sneaking off with Yamato whenever he needed one; a routine the blonde despised but went through with anyway.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“I - that’s not it.” Taichi glanced to Koushirou whose attention remained on his laptop. “I was just - how did you know I do that. I don’t remember ever telling you… or anyone other than Yamato for that matter.”

“Did you really think that I didn’t notice that whenever you were stressed you and Yamato just went for a random walk and you’d come back smelling of cigarettes? It wasn’t difficult to put two and two together.”

Taichi nodded as though he’d expected that kind of answer; which he probably did. It was always hard to hide things from Koushirou. For someone who had his head stuck in a laptop most of the time he was pretty observant.

Or just pretty.

Taichi shook his head.  _ Focus _ . “Okay so I… shit this is harder than I thought it would be.”

Koushirou stopped typing, his fingers poised over the keyboard. “Take your time, Taichi. I’m not going anywhere.”

Taichi heaved a sigh, eyes closing as he tried to gather his thoughts. Maybe this was why Koushirou hadn’t said anything to them. Sure, Taichi had been able to admit it to Yamato, but to anyone else? It seemed to be a  _ lot  _ harder.

“Okay. Okay. I think I got it.” Taichi said, exhaling sharply through his nose. “I… came to a realisation today that I… am not straight.”

Koushirou didn’t respond, his eyes fixated on the screen for a moment. Slowly, the redhead closed his laptop and set it aside, his attention shifting to Taichi. “And how did you come to this conclusion exactly?”

“Does it matter?”

“I suppose not, no. That’s why you were smoking?”

Taichi groaned. “Give me a break Izzy, up until today I thought I was straight. Sora had been the only person I ever liked… but… there’s a guy I guess? That I might like. I’m not sure. I only just figured out today that I might like him. Everything is so-”

“Confusing.” Koushirou finished for him, leaning back against the headboard, shifting his attention away from Taichi. “And you don’t know how to handle it, or who you are anymore, because all your life you thought you were something else, and it turns out you’re not, and you don’t want people to look at you differently because you don’t know how they feel about it.”

“I mean I hadn’t gotten quite that far into the thought process but thanks for putting  _ that  _ fear into me.”

“I’m sorry. Listen, it’s okay to be confused. You’re still sorting things out in your head. Maybe you should… spend some time with whoever this guy is and see if you feel something the way you did with Sora.”

“Right. And you’re… okay with this? What I am?”

“Who you are.” Koushirou corrected. “You’re still Taichi and… I appreciate that you felt you could talk to me about this.”

Taichi smiled. His eyes were still closed, and Koushirou couldn’t recall a time he’d ever seen him so relaxed. “I trust you with my life, Izzy. You  _ know  _ that.”

And he did but he he  _ didn’t _ . He knew Taichi trusted him with the most important of things, but something like this? This seemed more like a thing he would tell Yamato and  _ only  _ Yamato. At least until he was ready to tell the entire group.

Because Yamato was Taichi’s closest friend. Almost inseparable. They were Jogress partners.

He was  _ everything  _ to Taichi.

Or was he?

Koushirou didn’t know anymore. And that bothered him.


End file.
